twiggers

Oh, and another question (sorry!): Do I need to know in advance which days I am traveling? Or just fill in the days as I go? And how do they know I used it? Do I swipe it somewhere or a conductor stamps it?

Sorry....I've never traveled by train in Europe before!

PalenQ

I'd call Budget Europe - looking at their home page it seems if you want to order online they have a link to RailEurope - but call 800-441-2387 (from their site) and ask for Byron IME - he knows everything - and ask again about the policy of Saver Pass as i understand it - one person can use it without the other present - i am 99% sure but get it from an expert - something that IME you cannot do from RailEurope, which their site says charges 10% extra to talk to someone who then may not know much. According to B Europe site they have free shipping orders $250 - anyway your next Q - no you need not declare days in advance - you have a one-month period and then you have five boxes that you fill in the day you are traveling - before getting on the train - deciding as you go along - you may not know which day you want to go, etc. and that is fine - just decide the day of travel and put that date in. Conductors will then usually punch a whole in that box in which you have written in that day's date. Again this is something that B Europe folks can answer and patiently will IME.
Put any angst to rest traveling on trains in Benelux - they go at least hourly - with the pass you just hop on - after having written in that day's date - to not do so would be like riding without a ticket - you do not swipe it or anything like you would do with a regular ticket - just hop on and wait for the conductor to come around - and he/she may not on some trains - it is kind of on the honor system with big fines for those caught riding without a ticket or valid pass with the date already written in.

twiggers

PalenQ: Thank you for patiently answering my questions! I think I will just call BudgetEurope and order through them. By the looks of their website you can everything within a couple of days!

twiggers

FOund the answer to the question about only one person using the pass at a time (from eurail website):

The Saver Pass ticket consists of the actual ticket and a so-called control voucher. This control voucher bears the names and passport numbers of all travelers. This means that it is not possible for individual members of the group to make different journeys at the same time. If only one person uses the Saver Pass to travel, it counts as a travel day for all travelers on the voucher.

hetismij

twiggers, can I just warn you that Arnhem is a bit of a nightmare at the moment - they are rebuilding the station which is causing problems. Trains may be delayed, re-routed or cancelled, so you will need to check carefully before you set off.
getting out of the station is also tricky I believe, though I haven't been.

PalenQ

Indeed i took a train from Germany to Arnhem last January and many entrances were boarded up - it can be confusing but at least on a day trip you will not have luggage to contend with, etc. If just wanting to go to Kroller-Muller Park and the Van Gogh museum and outdoor statue park there the best way i was told by a Dutch Railways info officer was to take a train to Ede-Weningen (sp?) and outside the station hop a bus to the park entrance and change buses to one that went right to the museum - i did it this way going and it was all very easy - i took the bus from Kroller Muller to Arnhem to look around that unique, for Holland IMO, Dutch town and got a train back to Amsterdam from there.

twiggers

Thank you for the warning hetismij & PalenQ. I was originally planning on going into Arnhem; however, was just reading through my Rick Steves book and he recommends the Ede-Weningen station as well! So I will definitely make sure to take that option!

hetismij

Ah if you want to go the Kroller Muller then you definitely don't want to go as far a Arnhem.
Train to Ede-Wageningen and then bus 108s to Otterlo, and bus 106 to the museum. Or borrow a white bike at the entrance and ride it .

twiggers

Thanks so much Hetismij!

PalenQ

Or from Otterlo, at the entrance to the huge park that surrounds the museum - there are free bikes you can use (were free could be a fee now two years later?) to ride on bike paths thru this, for Holland, weird park - a kind of sand dune - well sand everywhere with trees, etc. - it's not far to the museum - several miles and then ride back and get the bus -you can take a bus to Arnhem and see a bit of that town and go back to Amsterdam a different way - with the pass you do not care if that route costs a bit more as it is longer.

hetismij

Lots of sand dunes throughout Holland Palenque - it is the bottom of the sea/ one big estuary after all.
We have big sand dunes, like a mini Sahara in our town and there are lots more about. Hoge Veluwe is positively verdant compare to them.
I did mention the free bikes (white bikes), in my post btw.

ssander

If you can get the Thalys tix for only a few Euros more, do it. Very fast and comfortable, even in 2nd class...though you'll have to use an IC train connection to Bruges - use an Any Belgium Station ticket which allows you to connect the Thalys to any other Belgian station for a small extra price over the Thalys ticket alone - may be the best deal (but not always):

http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/frequent...elgian-station

The connection is usually Antwerp -- but could be Brussels.

SS

twiggers

Thanks PalenQ!

PalenQ

One reason i went back to Amsterdam from the Van Gogh Museum (Kroller Muller) was that the bus i took went right by the famous Open-Air Museum on the edge of Arnhem - so i could pay a visit to this famous place where there are lots of demonstrations of the old Dutch way of life and old farm buildings moved here, etc. Well some folks don't care for these open-air museums but if you do...

twiggers

I bought the tickets today from your recommendation PalenQ. Byron was super friendly and very helpful with all my questions!
The prices of the pass did increase due to a stronger euro, up to $196 each for the saver pass.
However, he called me back and said that a promo just started and I got $10 off each ticket!!!!
So I actually saved a few bucks

Thank you all for all of the help!!! I really do appreciate it....especially since you all helped me save some money

PalenQ

About doing Den Hague and Delft the same day - as i said i recently did just that - took the train to Den Hague Centraal station and walked about a half-mile to all the groupings of sights you mentioned in your other thread - they are all grouped together in one compact area - then i walked thru the lively pedestrian town center and through Den Hague's China Town to the Den Hague H.S. (Holland's Spoor) station - a really neat old brick Victorian train shed - and hopped a train to Delft and spent a few hours there - and as i had a pass and was not paying for tickets i went from Delft to Rotterdam just to change trains to return to Amsterdam vis Utrecht - just for different scenery from the train.

So yes you can easily see the highlights of Den Hague - IMO after those you mention there is not much else to call major not-miss sights - and spend 3-4 hours in Delft as well.

twiggers

Thanks so much PalenQ!! I am definitely going to play it by ear and see what the time is looking like. But like you said, I can't imagine spending more than a couple hours in either place.